Indiana preacher donates his $63,000 King James Bible to New Guinea

THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR
By Will Higgins
Prime minister Peter O'Neill received the 400-year-old Bible from speaker Theodore Zuorenuoc. The Bible is enclosed in the wood and glass case on the stage. (Photo: Liam Cochrane/Australian Broadcasting Corp.)
NEW GUINEA---The Rev. Gene Hood, a longtime Indianapolis preacher and tireless, globetrotting missionary, handed out a lot of Bibles in his life time — in Honduras, Guatemala, Haiti, Korea, South Africa. But his gifts never before got a reaction like the one late last month in Papua New Guinea. It was not just any Bible. Rather, it was a King James first edition believed published in 1611. Earlier this month Hood gave the calf-skin-bound book to a delegation from the government of Papua New Guinea, led by the nation's parliamentary speaker Theodore Zurenuoc. They had come to Indiana to receive it. One expert told the ABC the Bible is worth $63,000 to $95,000. [link]